2012 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report

7/27/2019 2012 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report

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The Informz 2012Association

Email Marketing

Benchmark Report


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2012 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report Informz, Inc

Table of Contents

Introduction

Email Marketing Metrics

Key Findings

Results

Overall Association Metrics

Results by Email Type

Results by Country of Sender

Results by Association TypeResults by Email Client Usage

Results by Length of Subject Line

Results by Number of Links

Results by Number of Recipients

Results by Time of Day Sent

Results by Day of Week Sent

Average Number of Emails Sent by List Size

Effects of Personalizing the Subject Line

Open Duration Results

Conclusion

About Informz

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Introduction

Email marketing has become one of the primary ways associations communicatewith members, and has proven to be both cost-efficient and highly effective.However, with the struggling economy and increasing demands on members time,

optimizing email marketing campaigns has become more important than ever.

Informz, the leading provider of email marketing solutions for the associationindustry, has performed a study on our association client base to provide emailmarketers from member-based organizations benchmarking information for theiremail programs. This study will help you to understand what metrics you shouldbe analyzing when reviewing your email marketing program, what goals youcan set based on similar organizations, and how your email marketing programis performing.

This report includes a summary of email marketing metrics collected from over 700

large and mid-sized associations that used the Informz email marketing platformin 2011. These associations, located in the United States, Australia, New Zealand,Canada and the United Kingdom, sent over 600 million emails in 2011, consistingof newsletters, appeals, surveys, and event-related emails.

Email Marketing Metrics

Four key metrics are used in this report: delivery, open, click and unsubscribe rates

Delivery Rate is the percentage of emails that were not reported back to Informzas bounced or blocked.

Open Rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were reported back to Informas having been opened. If the text version of an email is read, it is not counted.Likewise, if an HTML email is read with the images turned off, it is not counted.However, if an email is opened with images off, but a link is clicked, the email iscounted as being opened. Open rate only includes unique subscribers. Multipleopens by one subscriber only count once.

Click Rate is the percentage of opened emails that were clicked by the recipient.

Clicking on a link in a text email is not counted as a click. Click Rate only includesunique subscribers. Multiple clicks by one subscriber only count once.

Unsubscribe Rate is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from aparticular mailing.




Key Findings

The Informz Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report analyzed the resultsfrom 600 million emails sent by over 700 large and mid-sized associations.The key findings from this study are as follows:

The average email metrics for associations include a 98.28% delivery rate,34.33% open rate, 19.49% click rate and a 0.052% unsubscribe rate.

As with the 2011 results, this years study found that the day of the weeksent had little effect on the open and click results.

Emails sent in the morning resulted in the highest open rates at 39.2%while mid-afternoon reported the highest click rates at 21.0%.

For the third year, desktop email software usage continued to decline,

while mobile email usage increased to 17%.

In this study, iPhone was the leader in the mobile device category at 12%while iPad reported at 4% and Android at 3%.

Shorter subject lines continued to outperform their longer counterparts.Fewer than 10 characters achieved the best open rate at 58%.

49% of emails sent were read by recipients (opened for longer than 10 seconds)while 35% of emails were opened for less than 3 seconds.

Survey-related emails had the highest combined open and click rates with36.60% average opens and 33.39% clicks. Appeal-related emails had thelowest click rate of the emails studied at 14.63%




Results


The following chart displays the average delivery, open, click, and unsubscribe

rate from 600 million emails sent by over 700 associations in the United States,Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom.

0

20

40

60

80

100

98.28%Delivery

34.33%Open

19.49%Click

0.052%Unsubscribe





Results by Email Type

For the purpose of this study, the subject line of emails were analyzed todetermine the email purpose and then segmented by category. The categoriesof emails are Newsletter, Event, Appeal, and Survey. It was found that the

delivery rate did not vary with the purpose of the email, so only open andclick rate results are displayed.

Notes:Event-related emails received the highest open rate but resulted in the secondlowest click-thru rates. This disparity between opens and clicks signifies theimportance of sending multiple emails during a campaign to promote an event.One possibility is that people receive event notifications but do not immediatelytake action to register for the event. Therefore, it is recommended to send

several follow-up emails to remind people of registration deadlines and eventupdates to encourage them to take action. Appeal emails received similar resultsand should allow for multiple touch points to achieve conversion. Newslettersand surveys both had more even open and click results that can be attributed tothe relevancy of the content to the recipients of these types of mailings.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Survey

Appeal

Event

Newsletter

Metrics Based on Email Type

36.60%

33.39%

39.37%

17.25%

31.44%

14.63%

27.64%

22.11%

Click

Open




Notes:It is of no surprise that appeal emails resulted in the highest unsubscribe rate.As noted in the previous study, appeals also resulted in the lowest click rate.

This proves the increased need to focus on segmenting and targeting requestsbased on what will resonate best with an audience. Utilize the data collectedon past donation history, events attended, and interest areas to segment thegroup based on what they are most likely to donate.

0.000%

0.010%

0.020%

0.030%

0.040%

0.050%

0.060%

0.025%Survey

0.032%Event

0.042%Newsletter

0.054%Appeal

Unsubscribe Rate Based on Email Type




Results by Country of Sender

Based on the physical location of the association, email marketing results weresplit into USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom foranalysis. Other countries were omitted because there were less than 30 clients

located in those countries. Delivery rate did not vary between countries, so ithas been omitted from the chart.

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

New Zealand

United Kingdom

USA

24.72%

25.37%

37.08%

24.18%

Metrics by CountryClick

Open

Australia

Canada

30.97%

19.35%

32.85%

23.93%

35.24%

18.22%




Notes:Memberships stretch throughout the world, making it difficult to deliver amessage at the right time for everyone. Utilize demographic data to split groupsby location and assign specific send times to each one to ensure it is deliveredduring the recipients workday. For Informz clients, try using the Informz SendTime Optimization tool, a feature that automatically sends an email to a recipientwhen they are most likely to open based on their past behavior. This removesthe guesswork from determining the best time to send your email!

Results by Association Type

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

D e l i v e r y

Business and Industry Associations

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Banking

Farming

ManufacturingTourism

Retail

Publishing

Medical

Education

Other

BankingFarming

Manufacturing

Tourism

Retail

Publishing

Medical

Education

Other

O p e n

C l i c k

Banking

Farming

Manufacturing

Tourism

RetailPublishing

Medical

Education

Other

29.18%

35.32%

23.58%23.18%

22.38%

33.14%

32.86%

32.23%

31.38%

98.90%98.12%

97.34%

96.70%

97.74%

98.86%

97.97%

97.88%

97.91%

21.41%

27.06%

17.32%

16.19%

10.88%

19.74%

15.70%

26.69%

21.05%


10/278 Informz, Inc., 2012


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Delivery

Professional & Trade Associations ~ Group 1

Op

en

Click

LegalMedical

Accounting

Architecture

Engineering

Human Resources

Insurance

Legal

Medical

Accounting

Architecture

Engineering

Human Resources

Insurance

Legal

Medical

Accounting

Architecture

Engineering

Human Resources

Insurance

98.24%99.07%

98.43%

98.39%

98.22%

98.51%

98.83%

36.65%

57.60%

29.07%

31.48%

21.83%

30.77%

31.08%

23.61%

11.88%

19.78%

18.97%

20.65%

23.86%

17.67%


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0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Delivery

Professional & Trade Associations ~ Group 2

Op

en

Click

ManagementReal Estate

Marketing

Media

Government

Education

Other

Management

Real Estate

Marketing

Media

Government

Education

Other

Management

Real Estate

Marketing

Media

Government

Education

Other

98.09%98.28%

98.58%

97.92%

98.16%

97.86%

98.48%

49.36%

38.67%

28.47%

28.88%

35.80%

32.22%

36.80%

14.66%

23.29%

20.47%

13.51%

29.89%

26.76%

16.65%


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Notes:To improve your own results, consider the profession your members are in.Are they away from a computer from 8am3pm like education professionals;or are they constantly on the go like professionals in the medical industry?

Tailor your emails so they are delivered at a time, or in a way, that worksbest for your members.

The results of the study show that medical industry associations had thehighest open rate but the lowest click-thru rate. This speaks to a need tomake the content be brief, to the point, and relevant.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

D e l i v e r y

Other Organization Types

O p e n

C l i c k

Labor Unions

Fraternity/Sorority

Public Health &Wellness Education

Convention &Visitors Bureau

College~Admission

College~Alumni/Development

Labor UnionsFraternity/Sorority



College~Admission


Labor Unions

Fraternity/Sorority



College~Admission


96.76%97.17%

96.28%

94.98%

97.00%

96.02%

41.48%

41.53%

25.59%

33.69%

29.82%

27.05%

30.47%

14.77%

17.56%

17.02%

16.65%

14.93%


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Government associations had a consistent open and click rate, the highestamong the industries studied. Timing is key with this group: many professionalshave busy times based on local elections, congressional schedules, etc.Understanding your membership and maintaining good data can help youto customize the email experience for your members and in turn, deliverbetter results.

Results by Email Client Usage

Informz is able to determine the email client or program used to view anyemail that is recorded as being opened by Informz. The first chart shows therelationship between desktop software (Outlook, Lotus Notes), web-based(Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) and mobile email clients (iPhone, iPad, Android).It should be noted that emails opened in a web browser on a mobile deviceare considered mobile and not web-based. In addition, mobile devices thatdo not display HTML are not reported here.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

December 2009 December 2011

Opens by Type of Email Client

Web Based Email

Desktop Software

Uncertain

Mobile Device

67% 21% 6% 6% 57% 19% 17% 7%

December 2010

61% 20% 13% 6%


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Once again, mobile readership increased as web-based email and desktopsoftware continued to decrease. Understanding what technology your members areusing to read your emails on is essential to ensure it renders correctly. It is alsoimportant to consider the ever-growing tablet market, as tablet sales are expectedto increase 62 percent in 2012. To optimize for mobile, look at the length of thesubject line, width of the email, number of images, and the location of links. Allof these small details go a long way in communicating a message to subscribers.

Notes:This study examines the average open and click rate based on the email clienttype that the subscriber uses. The results show that each desktop subscriberopens 51% of the emails sent to them and clicks on 15%. The results show thatsubscribers that only use mobile devices open an average of 46% of the emailsthat they receive but only click on 5%. Those that use both email client types,have a higher open rate (58%), but a lower click through rate than desktop only.Understanding that your audience may be using multiple technologies for thesame email is crucial in the design and layout of the email.

Mobile-only users resulted in a low click rate. This could be because many designsare not conducive to mobile readers, making it harder for them to read withoutzooming in or click on the correct link. The first step to help this is to include alink to the web version of the email and let the mobile readers know it is forthem. Also, try spacing out the links so that it makes it easier to click on thesmall screens of mobile phones. Make changes to your email design and layout tocreate a combination design that will work best on either mobile devices or PCs.

0% 10% 20% 30% 50% 60%40%

Mobile Only

Desktop Only

Both

Open and Click ComparisonBased on Email Client Type

51%

15%

46%

5%

58%

13%

Click

Open


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Outlook remains the email client leader in this study. However, similar to themobile devices results of 2010, the usage of the iPhone and iPad has more thandoubled since 2009. It is important to learn what your members are using andthen design for those email clients. Each client renders differently, and this canaffect how your message appears and could affect your email engagement.

Note:The percentages are based on total opens across all types of email clients.The results show that all desktop clients, with the exception of Outlook 2010,experienced a declined from 2010 to 2011.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

December 2009 December 2011

Outlook and iPhone/iPad Usage

iPhone/iPad

Outlook

57% 6% 47% 16%

December 2010

51% 9%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

December 2010

Desktop Email Client UsageOutlook 2007

Outlook 2000/2003

Outlook 2010

Apple Mail

Thunderbird

Lotus Notes

31% 17% 8% 2%

December 2011

24% 15% 7% 7%2% 1% 1% 0%


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0%

1%2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

December 2010

Mobile Email Client Usage

iPad

iPhone

Android

10% 2% 1%

December 2011

12% 4% 3%

9%

10%

11%

12%

0%1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

December 2010

Web-Based Email Client Usage

Hotmail

Yahoo

AOL

GMail

5% 4% 4% 3%

December 2011

7% 4% 3% 3%

9%

10%


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0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Email Client Usage by Country of the Recipient

7%

11%

11%

5%

5%4%

18%

5%

17% WebBase

dEmailAustralia

Canada

China

France

GermanyJapan

Mexico

New Zealand

United States

Uncerta

in

Australia

Canada

China

FranceGermany

Japan

Mexico

New Zealand

United States

3%

6%

6%

7%8%

6%

6%

3%

7%

MobileDevice

Australia

Canada

ChinaFrance

Germany

Japan

Mexico

New Zealand

United States

14%

14%

11%11%

11%

9%

16%

8%

20%

DesktopSoftwa

reAustraliaCanada

China

France

Germany

Japan

Mexico

New Zealand

United States

75%

70%73%

77%

76%

81%

60%

84%

56%


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Results by Length of Subject Line

Notes:There is never a second chance to make a first impression. An emails subjectline is one of the first things subscribers see to determine if the email isworth opening and they usually make that decision in less than three seconds.If your subject line is too long (more than 50 characters on a PC or more than30 characters on mobile) it will be truncated and could deliver a different meaning

than you intended. In most emails, shorter subject lines resulted in higheropen rates. In the end, take time to consider your subject line and be mindfulof the length. The subject line is also great for ongoing A/B testing to determinewhat works best for your audience.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

69

Open Rate Based on Subject Line Length

Open

Perce

ntage

60% 58%

36%

42%

35%35%34%

31%

28%

Subject Line Length


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Results by Number of Links

Notes:As found in the 2011 Benchmark Report, the more links in an email, the higherthe click-thru rate. Providing readers with multiple opportunities to click to reachthe same location is good. However, providing readers with too many differentlinks (such as a join now, register now, download program, etc.) will distract themfrom the main call to action. Keep the message simple and straightforward, whileoffering a way readers can click-thru in multiple areas. Testing the placement oflinks is a great way to gain insight into how your readers read your email.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

1 2 34 57 815 1630 3150 5170 >70

Click Rate Based on Number of Links

Open

Percentage

14%

11%

19%21% 20% 19%

26%

29%31%

Number of Links


20/2718 Informz, Inc., 2012


Results by Number of Recipients

Notes:Deliverability was omitted from the results, as there was no change among thecategories. However, the results show that email engagement decreases asthe list size increases. For lists that were under 500 recipients, open and clickrates were the highest because the targeting and relevancy are also at their

highest. Relevant content is key to improving conversions and keeping subscribershappy. The number one reason members unsubscribe is that they receive toomany emails that are not valuable. Segment your list based on data youknow, demographics, transactional or behavioral data, and then target yourmessage accordingly.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

250k

Metrics Based on Number of Recipients

Open

Percentage

60%

Click

Open

57.55%

35.73%

31.25%

27.51%

24.00%

20.64%

22.64%

24.50%

29.20%

19.38%18.11%

15.70%

17.21%

13.84%14.80%14.46%

15.56%

12.97%12.10%13.62%

Number of Recipients


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Results by Time of Day Sent

Notes:Emails sent in the morning hours resulted in a slightly higher average open rate.This is a great time to send newsletters and other quick reads as individualsprepare for their day. The late afternoon, once again this year, saw higher clickrates. Relevancy is a combination of creating the right content reaching theright person at the right time. Analyze when your subscribers are most activeand then customize the send time to achieve optimal results.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Late Afternoon

Mid-Day

Night

Metrics Based on Time of Day Sent

33.9%

19.7%

Morning

39.2%

16.5%

32.1%

21.0%

32.0%

18.6%

Click

Open

Open and Click Rate


22/2720 Informz, Inc., 2012


Results by Day of Week Sent

One of the most common questions asked by email marketers is, when is thebest day to send my email? This study analyzes the mailing results by day of theweek, MondayFriday.

Notes:As with last year, email delivery rates did not change based on the day of theweek sent. The results also show that there is very little change in open orclick rate based on the day of the week. Based on the results of this study andothers in this report, it can be concluded that factors such as the relevancyof the content and the targeting of the email have a greater impact on resultsthan the day of the week.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Thursday

Wednesday

Friday

Metrics Based on Day of the Week

33.97%

19.85%

Tuesday32.77%

18.96%

Monday

33.85%

18.52%

32.96%

19.72%

35.19%

19.24%

Click

Open

Open and Click Rate


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Average Number of Emails Sent by List Size

This study analyzes the average number of emails sent per month by the totalnumber of subscribers. This can be a good tool to compare the number of emails

your association sends to those with a similar number of email subscribers.

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1

2

3

4

5

1000k

Average Number of Emails Sentper Subscriber per Month

NumberofEmails

Sent

6

7

8

9

7.3706

8.5951

6.8841

5.9184

5.4167

4.9976

5.4722

5.634

6.2764

List Size


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Notes:In addition to what day or time is better, we are often asked how many emailsis too many. This is a tough question to answer due to the variables that comeinto play (type and relevancy of content, layout, purpose.) The smaller the listsize, the more emails are being sent per month per subscriber. Associationswith medium-sized lists send less per subscriber than the small or larger groups.Taking the time to segment your audience to deliver highly relevant contentwill help decrease the number of emails that are sent over the month to eachsubscriber. If you deliver a weekly newsletter, consider targeting stories withinthe newsletter for each audience. This will not cut back on the number of emailsyou send to the subscriber, but will make sure the ones you do send are more

relevant, leading to higher engagement.

Effects of Personalizing the Subject Line

Notes:Personalizing the subject line resulted in lower open and delivery rates. Thiscould be attributed to reasons such as being considered a non-trustworthy tacticor incorrect profile data being maintained. Instead of utilizing personalization in

the subject line, try including it in the body of the email. Use A/B split testing onthe subject line to determine the types of subject lines that are most effectivewith your audience.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Delivery Rate

Open Rate

Open Rates Based onSubject Line Personalization

96%

98%

31%

36%

Not Personalized

Personalized


25/2723 Informz, Inc., 2012


Open Duration Results

Notes:Open duration is measured to determine if the recipient really read the email or

if they opened and quickly closed it. At Informz, we separate the open durationinto three levels:Open the recipient looked at the email for less than 3 secondsSkim 310 secondsRead greater than 10 seconds.

This report shows that of the emails studied 49% of email opens were reads,35% skims and 16% opens.

Understanding if a subscriber opened and clicked an email provides us withbasic engagement results. Digging a little deeper to see if the subscriber spent

time reading the message is key to understanding how relevant your contentwas. Relevancy is the most important factor in deciding if a reader is going tokeep or delete the email. Relevancy applies to more than just text: utilize tacticssuch as video to entice readers to open, read, and click to view the video.Using new and innovative messaging techniques will help you see more readersin the read group than in the open group.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Read(Greater than10 seconds)

Skim(310

seconds)

Open(Less than3 seconds)

16%

35%

49%

Average Open Duration


26/2724 Informz, Inc., 2012


Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to provide industry-specific metrics to associationemail marketers, enabling them to have a better understanding as to:

what metrics to analyze when reviewing email marketing programs what goals to set based on similar organizations how their email marketing program is performing

It is important to remember that the results from this study should onlyprovide a general baseline to compare your current statistics. When consideringanalysis of your own email marketing program it is best to use these resultsin combination with your organizations past email marketing campaign results,taking into consideration your specific audience and their needs.


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About Informz

Since 1997, Informz has been dedicated to serving the association and nonprofitindustries by offering powerful online marketing tools built to meet the uniquechallenges faced by these organizations.

Email is a Science

Web-based technologies from Informz enable personalized, highly targetedcommunications coupled with real-time reporting features designed to reach theinbox and drive results. Sending the right message to the right people at theright time is achieved through email relevancy and your organizations ability toleverage its database. Your successful marketing and communications dependson reaching the inbox and engaging subscribers. Simply stated, targeted emailcommunications improve your response rates, and better response rates increaseyour messages impact.

The Informz DifferenceIn addition to on-demand product support, you deserve one-on-one, up-to-dateemail marketing guidance relevant to your unique needs, built upon strongrelationships and reliable collaboration. In order to maximize your success,your exclusive eMarketing Advisor is always ready to assist throughout thedevelopment, publishing, and measurement of your email campaigns. Devotedto your professional success, Informz combines state-of-the-art technology withour trusted eMarketing Advisors to bring you products and services that alignwith your marketing goals.

Through dynamic targeting, intelligent deliverability, precision reporting,seamless integration, and expert Advisors, Informz truly is the way to knowemail marketing.

Informz has been a great email marketing tool; providing

great analytics, great customer service and an easy

to use product. Informz is now our core email marketing

solution from emails and newsletter to surveys and

alerts; it has become essential in our business.

~Chris Ma, Australian Veterinary Association

2012 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report

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